


And When You Turn To Me And Smile...

by HunterByDayWhovianByNight



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Trailer, Bucky Barnes Feels, Kissing, M/M, Memories, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Reunions, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 15:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14335095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterByDayWhovianByNight/pseuds/HunterByDayWhovianByNight
Summary: "No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." —Robert SoutheyWhen Bucky meets Steve again and sees him smile, it's the happiest he's ever felt.





	And When You Turn To Me And Smile...

**Author's Note:**

> Has time really flown by so quickly? I can't believe Infinity War is almost here. Have some Stucky fluff to tide you over. Title is from "Lady in Red" by Chris De Burgh.
> 
> ~Hunter

“Steve!”

Steve whipped his head around, his longer, slightly shaggier hair and grown-out bangs coming with him. Bucky met his eyes and Steve  _ beamed.  _ Steve looked like the sun, glowing and smiling so wide that it seemed inhuman. Bucky mused that his beard, one Steve could never have grown when they were younger, only served to further accentuate his smile. The skin around Steve’s eyes crinkled in the same way it always had. Steve looked so goddamn happy standing over there that Bucky felt the same happiness just looking at him. 

That’s how Bucky knew he was looking at the real Steve,  _ his  _ Steve. 

Bucky wanted to pinch himself to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him, but when he pierced his palm with his nail and he still saw Steve, smiling as wide as ever, Bucky’s heart beat so fast he was certain it would go through his rib cage. 

All Bucky could do when he saw Steve smile was smile the biggest one he could in return. He hadn’t seen him in so long; had three years really gone by in this time? Bucky walked so he could meet Steve halfway, his stomach turning and hands shaking, and then he was finally met with a solid, warm body.  _ Steve.  _

Bucky threaded his fingers in Steve’s long, beautiful hair. He buried his face into the taller man’s neck and nosed around to find the bare skin of Steve’s neck so he could smell the comforting scent of him, remind himself that this was real. Buck felt the tears well up in his eyes and he let the tears fall and stain Steve’s suit. Bucky clung to Steve like his lifeline and squeezed him. This was the closest they’d been since Bucky went under three years ago, but they hadn’t embraced so lovingly and so long since the war, when Steve found Bucky and the Howling Commandos. Distantly, Bucky felt Steve kiss the top of his head and squeeze him in return. Bucky couldn’t stop smiling he was so happy. He never wanted this to end.

“I love you,” Bucky confessed. “I love you, I love you, I love you…” Bucky trailed off, crying and weeping into Steve’s shoulder. He doesn’t care what he looks like or what others could be thinking right now. He loved Steve and wanted to show him, express how much he missed him because they had gone too long so far apart.

“God, Buck, I do, too,” Steve said. Bucky heard his voice crack, which probably meant Steve, too, was crying. “I love you. I missed you. Never want to leave you again.”

Bucky pulled away from the warmth and comfort of Steve’s chest and looked up at him, tears sliding down his and Steve’s faces. Bucky reached up with his (flesh) hand and wiped away the tears, shaking, and cradled Steve’s heartbroken face with all of the love he could. Steve put his hand over Bucky’s and nuzzled into the touch of Bucky, and it made Bucky cry even more. Bucky could feel the need, the want, the love; this was important for Steve, he could tell. Bucky’s heart thundered against his ribcage.

All of a sudden, Bucky was kissing Steve, and all he could do was hold onto Steve’s suit and let himself be kissed. He felt himself melting under the hot Wakanda sun, into the asphalt, and in Steve’s arms. Bucky kissed back with all the strength he could muster and felt Steve’s warm tears on his cheeks before pulling away for desperately-needed air. When they finally pulled away, Bucky remembered what it was like and how it felt to kiss Steve the first time right before he went under with all of the fireworks and magic and soaring. This kiss felt exactly the same and it was better than he remembered.

Steve pressed their foreheads together and Bucky felt their connection strengthening the longer they stayed that way. This was comforting, this was the old days. They used to do this in their bedrooms before the war when they heard gunshots outside, heard bottles smashing and screams across the hall. Steve’s hand on the back of his neck, strong yet caring, felt like heaven; Steve’s fingertips burned Bucky’s skin like fire.

“You were all I could think about,” Steve muttered, making Bucky’s heart flutter and his breathing hitch. Bucky was so glad Steve thought of him, even though he knew that it was likely that Steve did it for the entirety he was under ice. Steve dried Bucky’s tears and pressed a chaste, lingering kiss to Bucky’s forehead; it did too many things to Bucky’s heart when Steve did that. Bucky thinks to himself that he could have done that to Steve back when they were kids and Steve was so much shorter than him. 

“Wish you were there when I woke up,” Bucky said. Bucky shivered at the memory of being awakened, of falling out of the chamber shivering and frosted-over and scanning the room for Steve, but seeing only a young African girl who he’d later learn was Shuri, T’Challa’s sister. He remembered crying out for Steve and begging to see him. “I was so cold. I was so scared.”

“Why were you scared?” Steve asked, pushing back Bucky’s long hair. Bucky shivered when he felt Steve’s fingers drag underneath his chin and tilt it up to look Steve in his crystalline blue eyes.

“Because I didn’t know if you were alive,” Bucky admitted, trying not to look into Steve’s eyes when he said that. “I didn’t see you and I got so scared because all I could think was that you were dead.”

“I’m here now, Buck. I’m never gonna let you get away from me like that ever again.”

Hearing Steve’s words warmed Bucky’s heart and made him tingle all the way down to his toes, hidden in his boots. He gave Steve a bashful smile.

“I’m not gonna let you get away, either, Steve.”

**Author's Note:**

> me, in ya brain: kudos/comment on this fic  
> you: but why  
> me, in ya brain: you gotta
> 
> ~Hunter


End file.
